Monday, December 29, 2014

Today I have for you a little update on one of my pieces making an encore appearance. Back in November I shared with you my contributions to Far Horizons for the Edge of the Empire RPG. My Chevin Entrepreneur has returned and is now on the front of the Entrepreneur Specialization Deck!

Entrepreneur Specialization Deck

Here is the how the original Career Entrepreneur appeared, though even in Far Horizons the background holo-feed was played down...

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Happiest of holiday wishes from me to you. I hope that whichever winter
festival or celebration you participate in that it brings you
fulfillment, happiness, and time with family and loved ones. I hope the Trandoshans and Wookiees in your life can come together in the season... RAWR!

Monday, December 15, 2014

Recently I have shared with you my Gray Wanderer, Corrupted Knight, Smokestack, and Belled Kreep monsters. Today, I have for you the fifth piece in this series. This
piece was finished this past weekend and continues to be at the new larger scale. I
present you with the Aberrant Stilter...

The Aberrant Stilter is one of three monsters I designed once returning home
from Illuxcon this year and is the second to be completed. The Belled Kreep was the first of these new monsters. I allowed
people on Facebook vote on which I would draw, based on just the
name. The
Aberrant Stilter received the second most votes.

Further details on this piece, like all of these personal monster on
toned paper will have to wait for another day and hopefully a different
type of information interface. Fear naught, all will be revealed in the
fullness of time. As an added bonus here are some images of the piece as
I worked on it...

Friday, December 12, 2014

Back in July I shared with you my contribution to the most recent Fantasy Flight Games RPG, Age of Rebellion.
Today I have for you the process that went into one of those pieces, Quarren Agitator. This is my first time having a chance to illustrate a Quarren for Star Wars so it was a treat. First things first, here is how the final Quarren Agitator turned out...

To get things started I posed for some very angry Quarren reference. Nothing like standing around with a big silly knife threatening an unseen authority. With the reference in hand I got to work on some thumbnails, and here is how they turned out...

I think the art order did call for the Quarren to actually be smashing the holo-screen with Imperial propaganda, but I wanted to try out some other options. "B" was the winner, and the only one that had depicted holo-screen smashing action. With Thumbnail selected it was time to get started with the final drawing and here is how that turned out...

If you are wondering what the holo-screen says, let your curiosity be sated, it reads, "Make a Difference". That is my contribution to propaganda without it being too creepy and over the top... make a difference and join the Stormtrooper corp! The drawing was approved without note and I was all clear to get started on my painting.

At some point during my I realized that the Quarren's left arm was a little too big or a little too long... or both. I fixed it, but due to the way my files are set up it is now no longer part of the layered order of my painting - which is why it will be absent for most of the process steps and then suddenly appear. I had to cut it out, adjust it, and reattach it later in the process. With all that said, here is the making of a Quarren in 16 easy steps, or not...

Besides the arm adjustment I decided to make the shards of the screen actively falling rather then gathered on the ground. This makes the image more in the moment with the sparks flying and pieces of plastic going in every direction. That Quarren JUST smashed that screen and he is yelling about why the Empire must be stop... which is right before a Stormtrooper shoots him in the face. That will show those Quarren they should not have backed the Separatists and the armies of Count Doku. Should have stayed unified with the Mon Calamari, but that political discussion is pointless now.

As an added bonus here is an animated gif thing of the progression through the steps that made this piece. Right before your eyes the Quarren takes shape...

Quarren Agitator animated thing...

This concludes my contribution to the Age of Rebellion core book, but don't worry, there will be plenty more where this came from. Here again is how the final piece turned out...

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Last week I had a new Star Wars pieces spoiled over on the Fantasy Flight Games website, so it of course is now showing up on the blog. The newest source book for the Age of Rebellion RPG, Stay on Target, is about to released. I have one piece in this book that is new, Heated Tempers, and this is how it turned out...

A Bothan and a Chadra-Fan walk into a bar... well, not so much a bar as a Rebel hanger, and boy, are they angry. This piece was a lot of fun and I never pictured myself having a chance to paint an A-Wing. Tha Chadra-Fan is not very happy with her mechanic and he does not look too happy either! RAWR!

I think this is the last digitally painted Star Wars piece that I made. There are still some pieces in the ether that I can't share with you yet, but this was the last one that I worked on digitally. Kind of glad this was digital, there was a rather sizable edit that I had to make when I had finished the painting. The rest of the story will be saved for another day once the book is out.

Heated Tempers on the FFG website

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday! Until then...

Monday, December 8, 2014

Recently I have shared with you my Gray Wanderer, Corrupted Knight, and Smokestack monsters. Today, I have for you the fourth piece in this series. This piece was finished very recently and is larger then its predecessors. I
present you with the Belled Kreep...

The Belled Kreep is one of three monsters I designed once returning home from Illuxcon this year and is the first to be completed. I allowed people on Facebook vote on which I would draw first, based on just the name. It has taken a while to compete any of them since they are larger and I am rather busy on client work, but they are slowly but surely taking shape.

The completion of the Belled Kreep lined up perfectly with me needing an image for our 2014 Holiday Card... and it was festively appropriate. Strangely enough, I was already making this monster without any thought to the card. I still have some sets of these Belled Kreep holiday cards available over on my STORE!

Further details on this piece, like all of these personal monster on
toned paper will have to wait for another day and hopefully a different
type of information interface. Fear naught, all will be revealed in the
fullness of time. As an added bonus here are some images of the piece as
I worked on it...

Friday, December 5, 2014

I have submitted a group of pieces to be considered for inclusion in Infected By Art 3. Public voting on these pieces is now open and runs through December 9th. While the book is juried there are places reserved in the book for pieces voted on by the participating public. All I am asking is that if you have the time to head on over and vote on the pieces of work that you enjoy most. If that happens to include some of my pieces, even better! You can see all of my submission in one location by using this LINK. Thanks in advance for your time!

I am happy to announce that I have been selected for the Gen Con Art Show in 2015. They started a jury process as of this year and it looks like I made the cut. This will be my 5th year in the Gen Con Art Show and I am really looking forward to it! There should be a lot of new faces and some returning familiar one. I will also have a ton of originals with me and it will hopefully be the best looking booth I have set up yet. If you are attending Gen Con 2015 be sure to stop by the Art Show and say hello and check out all 88 artists appearing there next year!

That is all for another exciting Friday on the blog, see you back here on Monday! Until then...

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Last week I shared with you my Gray Wanderer
and Corrupted Knight. Today, I have for you the third piece in this series. This piece was finished just
prior to Illuxcon but has not had a chance to get posted until now. I
present you with the Smokestack...

Further details on this piece, like all of these personal monster on
toned paper will have to wait for another day and hopefully a different
type of information interface. Fear naught, all will be revealed in the
fullness of time. As an added bonus here are some images of the piece as
I worked on it...

About Me

I began my career designing special makeup effect for movies and television. Some of the television shows I worked on including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly.

Currently I work in the gaming industry illustrating and designing monsters. I have done work with
Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Flight Games, Paizo Publishing, Privateer Press, and AEG (just to name a few) on various book, card and miniature gaming products.